Well, the Angola flights were mentioned in 'Justplanes news' last week...they reported a once-weekly flight with a 777; however, there ain't anything on the BA website, in their schedules or on oag.....however, don't they change their timetables in October? it might appear then.

When we lived in Luanda, we knew the local BA manager quite well...Sunil's his name! He was working hard to get the route started....could be quite profitable exactly where it matters....in F and J......Luanda is full of oilmen, diplomats, tobacco executives, UN officials and people who generally fly at the pointy end....certainly AF's LAD flight does very well in L'espace!

Don't forget TAP to Lisbon (A340) and SNBA/Birdy Airlines (A330) to Brussels...LAD was also served by the old Sabena....interestingly, only SAA and AF had a good reputation with the foreign workers in Luanda....no one touched TAAG with a bargepole, and TAP and Sabena were rather unpopular...TAP for always being late/cancelled and Sabena for dirty cabins, broken seats and unscheduled stops in Cameroon (!!)

I've flown TAP on the route, didn't think they were bad at all...but maybe I was lucky?! Didn't get to fly Sabena, but I also thought AF was very good really. I also remember flying SAA (743) down to Jo'burg...we were upgraded to First Class, and presented with the long wine list.....I asked for a Fleur du Cap (Flower of the Cape) 1997 Merlot, at which the FA looked up and said 'I'm sorry sir, we only have red'......you've just got to laugh really!

From what I have heard,Birdy won't be around for much longer!TAP are ....well TAP and AF are class.I'm sure there will be room for BA especially when Birdy go the way of SN and aren't TAP in a lot of financial bother?
.....I asked for a Fleur du Cap (Flower of the Cape) 1997 Merlot, at which the FA looked up and said 'I'm sorry sir, we only have red'......you've just got to laugh really! That's a pretty good line Imagine if you were Mr.Conran

First I've heard about Birdy's troubles....I thought the Africa routes worked quite well for the old Sabena?? Is AF gaining the market share in Africa then? Perhaps AF are perceived as being more reliable or absorb the majority of high-yield traffic between Europe and Angola (which is split between AF and SAA)- those who use the latter prefer to connect in Jo'burg and catch the BA flight up to London from there, in a desperate attmept to gain their coveted FFPs!

First thing I heard about troubles with Birdy. From what I've seen loadfactors on Birdy have been very good lately and Birdy keeps expanding with adding more African destinations. Offcourse, loadfactors are not everything, but they can give atleast an indication, especially on a market wich has hardly any competition.

I don't think it will be wise for BA to start a flight to Angola. Most of the angoleans live in Portugal and LIS is a very good connection point for angoleans to fly to Europe. TAP flies regulary to Luanda with the A340-300's and those flights are quite full, TAAG also flies to LIS and ORY with their 747-300's, so BA will not have any chance to get a good share of the market at this moment. Only if one of those airlines that fly there ( AF flies there too ) drops their flights BA could have a chance. If I where in UK I would probably fly to ORY or to LIS and then get a connection either with AF or TAP, but if you wanted something really wild and unique I would pick TAAG!
regards